WASHINGTON D.C. (Nexstar) — Thousands of young undocumented immigrants celebrated a victory last month when the Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to end DACA— the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The migrant policy institute says 66,000 young people are now eligible to sign up for DACA, but U.S. Immigration stopped accepting applications in 2017. It’s uncertain when or if more applications will be reviewed.
Sarah Pierce, with the Migration Policy Institute, says when President Trump moved to end the program the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped accepting the new DACA applications.
“Since Sept. 2017, USCIS has only been adjudicating DACA applications of those who currently hold DACA or had held DACA previously,” Pierce said.
USCIS hasn’t announced plans to reopen the application process, leaving young immigrants who are now old enough to apply for DACA left to wonder what’s next for them.
“I don’t know how many of the DACA-eligible folks are going to try to move forward with an application when the administration is still trying to dismantle it,” U.S. Rep. Will Hurd said.
The Texas Republican says the fate of the program and those children is up to Congress, but Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar says Congress can’t do anything if President Trump keeps fighting back.
“Unfortunately, the president will come in and say ‘I’ll give you DACA, if you give me the wall,’” U.S. Rep. Cuellar said.
USCIS is also looking to Congress, saying in a statement: “If Congress wants to provide a permanent solution for these illegal aliens it needs to step in to reform our immigration laws”
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